Fitness can be a real good fun if you include interesting and variety of exercises in your exercise plan. Believe me, there are thousand of activities to workout. So be good in your selection of few from those thousands, simply for the reason that you are more likely to stick with a workout that you really enjoy! However just for your convenience i am jotting down 7 point for exercises that do interest the majority of people and help them stay fit! Some are necessary, and for some you can find substitutes/alternatives. So here are 7 ways to stay fit:

1. Get a Fitness Instructor : Why? Well, if you have set some fitness objectives or if you need some help staying focussed on your goals then fitness instructor is the best choice. They are qualified instructors, they know their job, they know how to assess your current fitness level, and they know what exercises and programmes are suited best to your fitness needs. They can also motivate you to stay focussed and tailor a suitable programme for you. Alternatively, your wife/husband, friends who really have a good effect on you can take place of fitness instructor to some extent. But professional is the best.

2. Join A Gymnasium/Fitness Center: There is no other venue like a gym or a fitness centre if you would like to have lot of variety in your fitness plan. There are lot of machines, weights, exercises plus professional coaches/instructors to help you use those machines. Of course, things depends on size of the gym. You may get wide range of exercising activities such as aerobics, dance, body toning, power workouts, sauna, jacuzzi, steam room and massage. Getting relaxed and being revitalized is equally important.

3. Water Exercise : Water is such a good platform for all around fitness. If you have ever noticed, swimmers have such a streamlined body and they are great examples of how good it is to exercise in water. Water offers resistance. So exercising in water build strength and endurance while aiding stamina and suppleness. For much concerned people who have problems with their joints, well water’s buoyancy also reduces the impact on your joints. For this particular reason, water exercise are best suited for over-weight people and people with back n joint problems.  Swimming is the most common exercise and it’s the best. But there are two other exercises in water and believe me they are so much fun. It’s the conventional aerobic dance classes and water polo like sports. Fun while exercising, well nothing like that.

4. Get Some Exercise Video : Nothing much to explain here. It’s just that you get some exercise videos that are actually very easily available. There are many styles of exercise videos but get the one which you think is better than the rest. The only word of caution, do not get an old video. Only the up-to-date videos. Old videos of 90’s etc. have been proved dangerous and she not be done. So just select a video that you think complements your fitness objectives that you had set.

5. Walking Club: You must have heard about lot of laughing clubs. It’s time you started a walking club. Try involving your family, friends, neighbors in a walking club. Go for usual walks. Or everyday let one of the member o some research and take the rest of you to some museum or some historical place or adventurous place and let it be a guided tour kind of thing. Take different routes or you can even include hilly or rough terrains. All the time interacting with your walking club members, you will find that it’s a good social way to make friends, and get that fitness level rising and still having lot of fun.

6. Outdoor Sports: This is really too much fun which can be done occasionally.  Take an outdoor sport like skiing, sailing, rock climbing, windsurfing, horse riding, canoeing, rowing, boating and there so many endless sports one can go for. They are so much fun, so much refreshing and helps you keep your fitness to the best level. Depending on your skill level, get some outdoor sports every now and then.

7. Dancing all the way: Social parties, dancing parties, well here is your chance for all around fitness. Never hesitate to dance in such social settings. If you do not know how to dance, then join some classes. There are various forms of dances right from ballroom dancing to jazz and tap dancing. It’s real fun. Learn to dance with partner or no partner. There is dance for singles, couples and groups. So dance your way onto building fitness.

Don’t think exercise is such a boring thing. It’s fun. Just chose the exercise that really interests you and get a Healthy Body and a Healthy Mind. Take care and stay fit.

We last talked about how to achieve a full range of movements without any stiffness, aching or suffering. In other words we discussed about achieving suppleness. Suppleness can be achieved by stretching to far extent.

However, your stretching better be safe. Always avoid forceful stretches. You should understand that you would feel only a comfortable tightness instead of any kind of pain when a muscle is stretched to its limit. You should never go beyond this point. Always take care that you should avoid stretches that puts excessive strain on other parts of the body. For example, deep knee bends, in which the bottom drops below the level of the knees, and touching the toes while keeping the legs straight, can be harmful because they put too much strain on your back and joints. It is always advised to place your hands on your thighs when stretching the muscles at the back of the leg (hamstring) as this would help support the lower back, whether standing or sitting.

Also take care that when you are stretching, you apply only slow and steady pressure and resist the temptation to speed up the stretch by bouncing. This will put more stress on the tendons than the muscles. Muscles are actually armed with a reflex device to protect them from over-extended. This means that every time you move into a stretch, the initial reaction of the muscle is to contract in order to protect itself. So when it is held for a few seconds, the so called initial contraction will disperse and the muscle can then relax into a stretch. It is to be noted that bouncing, which is also known as ballistic stretching repeatedly triggers the reflex action and results in a series of contractions rather than the desired lengthening of the muscle.

Please note that it is important that stretches are attempted by moving the joints only in direction for which they are designed. For example, your knees are hinge joints which can be damaged if attempts are made to rotate or move them laterally. Ligaments, the bands of fibrous tissues that hold the joints in place, can be damaged if the joint is moved in a direction that it is not designed to go.

So take care. Have a healthy mind and healthy body.

What is suppleness?

The ability to achieve a full range of movements “to turn, stretch, twist and bend” without any stiffness, aching or suffering a spine or joint injury is defined as suppleness. It is also known as flexibility.

What about it?

Suppleness or flexibility is an important part of your everyday life. Being supple means that you can reach up to take an item down from a bookshelf, for example, or bend down to tie your shoe laces, without feeling that your movements are restricted in any way. When you are young, you tend to take suppleness for granted. But as and when you start growing older, you need to spend a bit of time enhancing and maintaining your suppleness.

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Do you really have to pick up huge and heavy weights in order to build your strength? I guess not. Have a look at these alternatives.

1) Dumbbells: Dumbbells are simple to use, safe and very effective. They can be used to provide extra resistance when doing standard exercises, or in exercises designed specifically for dumbbells. Dumbbells can be used singly or in pairs. They may be obtained as fixed sizes, available in a range of weights, or adjustable types to which extra weights can be added.

2) Barbell: A barbells consists of a bar to which weights are attached at the either ends. Barbells are very effective because they strengthen the support muscles, which help maintain posture and stability, as well as the main muscle groups. However their use requires a good instructions and proper training from an experienced fitness instructor.

3) Elastic Training Band: You can use elastic training bands in many different ways. For example, while sitting on a chair, loop a band around one of your foot and hold the two ends by your hip. Straightening that leg against the resistance of the band strengthens the muscles in front of your thigh. Similarly for the upper body, take the band in your hands, either in front of your chest or behind your back, and stretch it to strengthen arms and shoulders.

4)Ankle and Wrist Weights: These weights can be tied on your ankles or wrists. Ankle and Wrist weights will increase the amount of resistance involved when doing standard strength exercises such as push ups and heel raising exercises.

5) Gymnasium Machines: Resistance machines are easy to use and a bit simple to adjust especially when you want to increase the effort involved. Most of the machines target individual muscles or perhaps a group of muscles, so you have to take care not to overwork these areas of the body or you can end up getting imbalanced muscles. There are multi-purpose gyms available though. They include a range of different machines that can be worked through systematically. These useful devices are designed to improve all-round muscle strength and endurance.

By running just 5 miles (8 km) in the whole week, you can reduce the risk of yourself getting a heart disease (which is supposed to be the number one killer in the western world) by nearly 20 percent. You already know the advantages of running. It can also help you lose weight, strengthen your muscles and bones and even slow down the aging process which means you will look and feel young all the time. Besides all other advantages, running also benefits your skin and hair. Above all, it will make you feel great.

Always aim to alternate resistance exercises with aerobic or the stamina building exercises. This will give your muscle a chance to recover from the build of the lactic acid in your body, which is a common side effect of high intensity activities such as weight lifting or sprinting. In these anaerobic activities, oxygen cannot be delivered to the muscles in time to assist with the breakdown of glycogen (the form in which glucose is stored as energy in muscles). If there is no presence of oxygen, then these glycogens breakdown produces lactic acid. It is build of this lactic acid in the muscles that causes a burning sensation in your body after you do an intense activity.

The pain eventually builds up to the point where you must rest. As soon as you stop, muscles start to use oxygen to break down the lactic acid. The more lactic acid that is built up, the more the oxygen required to break it down. This is called the oxygen debt’ and this why you pant for breath after sprinting. By alternating aerobic exercises with resistance activities you enable the muscles to disperse the lactic acid rather than accumulating it. You will then not have to stop doing strength exercises prematurely because if either fatigue or a muscle pain.

You can also train yourself to improve your recovery rate by timing each stop to allow yourself just enough time to breathe evenly and deeply before repeating the exercise. With practice this will enable you and your body to recover faster and therefore improving your stamina.

Many stamina building exercises, such using treadmills or jogging, improves the strength and endurance for only those muscles which are involved in the activity. If you thoroughly concentrate on such type of exercises only, in that case you run the risk of developing an imbalanced physique. Imagine, having powerful leg muscles and buttock muscles but at the same time having weak shoulders, chest and arms. To prevent this imbalance, make sure that exercise routines includes resistance exercises for the upper body. Alternatively, you can use stamina building equipments such as rowing or skiing machines that exercise the upper and lower body at the same time, thus providing you a balance physique.

Most of the muscles work in pairs. To create movement in one direction, let’s say like when we pick up a glass of water, one muscle in the arm will contract while the other relaxes. On the other hand, while putting the glass down, when we provide movement in an opposite direction, the muscle actions reverse. Unless both muscles of the pair are exercised evenly, imbalances can occur that can actually reduce the efficiency of the joints and increase the risk of injury. This is one of the major cause for the posture problems, leading to the problems such as persistent neck pain and backache.

You should vary the types of exercise you do so that all the muscles of the body are improved “or conditioned” evenly without actually concentrating on any particular muscle group.

Certain muscles have important roles as fixating, or stabilizing muscles. This means that there main task is to maintain the body’s position or posture while the other muscles are involved in actual physical work, such as lifting, pulling or pushing. Varying your exercises and activities will ensure that these muscles get a proper required workout, too. Strong abdominal muscles, for example, are particularly important when lifting heavy loads. They give extra protection and support to the back and help to prevent a hernia which is a condition where the intestine protrudes through a weak area of muscle.

Always keep in mind that you should never do strength exercises when you are tired. In that case, you greatly increase the risk of injury if, because of physical or mental fatigue, you are not in total control during an exercise or you are not concentrating on doing the exercise correctly. Also remember that exercise is not to be taken lightly or jokingly. Poor exercise techniques is likely to put excessive strain on muscles, joints and connective tissues that are yet not prepared or strong enough to cope with it.

Building strength involves working your muscles against some degree of resistance, such as lifting a weight. But it isn’t just sufficient to lift a weight only once, instead, you need to work the muscles to their maximum capacity, and this does mean performing each movement several times, or in other words, repetitions. This is known as challenging the muscles. By raising the weight or the number of repetition, you actually increase the challenge.

Weight lifting isn’t the only form of resistance training. In fact, every time you sit down or stand up, you work by carrying your body weight against gravity. Other examples include tensile resistance, such as the pull you feel walking in an ocean or in a deep mud.

Water offers considerable resistance and swimming is an ideal form of strength exercise as well as improving stamina.

Although muscles grow larger in response to strength training, it doesn’t mean that you will gain a body builder’s physique, which in fact takes many hours of specialized training and dedicated effort. You will however, be helping yourself to a fitter, stronger body with firmer muscles and less body fat.

Keep your body ready for action and also prepared for strenuous or weighty tasks by regularly exerting your muscles. Strength and endurance training not only tones and conditions your muscles, but it also improves your fitness level.

Strength is the ability to lift, lower, push or carry an object of such mass, weight or resistance that the effort involved can only be sustained for a short time. For example, you need muscular strength to lift a heavy suitcase into the boot of a car, or to unscrew the tight lid of a jar or to push a piano.

Endurance, on the other hand, can be considered as the ability to sustain a level of activity for extended periods, such as carrying heavy shopping home or digging the garden. Improving muscular strength and endurance will provide important benefits to both your health and your quality of life.

On average, men and women are at their strongest when at the age of 30. After that, muscle mass and strength in the body, tend to goes into a steady decline unless people do something about it and make strength exercises an important part of their lives.

Regular resistance exercises can reduce and even reverse the steady decline in strength with age; no matter how old or unfit you are when you start.

As per the scientists at John Hopkins University at United States of America, an older adult who has been doing strength exercises for more than 15 years are as strong as or stronger than 20 years old guy who has been inactive. Studies conducted at a nursing home showed that even 80 and 90 years olds could double their leg muscle strength and improve daily activity levels by 35 percent after just 10 weeks of strength exercises. Just as aerobic exercises boost the heart and lungs, so strength exercises build up muscles. Unless muscle is regularly used, its tone diminishes and it becomes weaker. Unfit muscles always tire easily, and are prone to injury and limit the amount of activity your body can take. A Small amount of thought and effort can save your muscles.

It is very important that exercise is sustained because of the time that is taken before the energy in the body switches from the initial anaerobic energy production systems to the aerobic system. However if you can manage only 10 minutes at a time before tiring, simply try doing it two times a day. There is no point trying to step up the pace before you are ready. No doubt you need to push your body to get fitter, but attempting anything unrealistic can result in injury or discourage you from continuing.

It’s better to start off by walking for 20-30 minutes at a fast pace with which you feel comfortable. Ideally, walking fast would make you breathe harder but still enable you to talk out loud. Unless you know how to monitor your pulse, it would be hard for you to judge the effort you are putting in. You can make a good estimation by gauging the ease with which you talk. Exercise to build stamina needs to be challenging if they are to be effective. Once your current level of activity seems easy, you should start to raise the effort involved. For example, first you increase the distance you usually walk, then you can step up the pace and later perhaps you can include a slight incline in that route. A treadmill can be very helpful in achieving it. Over a period of time, let’s say 10-20 weeks), you may feel fit enough to jog part of the way.

Level 1:
You can talk and exercise at this level indefinitely. Aim to improve it.

Level 2:
You can exercise and still talk in a breathy way. This is the lower level.

Level 3:
You are more breathless but can still talk at this level. This is top level.

Level 4:
You are uncomfortable talking at this level of exercise. You should avoid until you get really fit.

Level 5:
You find it impossible to talk. Only trained athletes should attempt this level.

Over a time, as you get fitter you will find that you perceive your level of exertion as moderate (Level 2 or 3 as mentioned above) even though if you now exercise harder. This shows that your heart, lungs, blood circulation and muscles are actually adapting to the exercise you do, by becoming stronger and more effective. Perhaps surprisingly, you will find that you also perspire more freely. However this is natural. It actually shows that your body’s temperature regulating system is working more effectively and efficiently to dissipate the heat you generate when you are exercising.

You can make walking and jogging more enjoyable by choosing a right place to perform your activities. Parks, gardens are not only good for health but also are attractive thus motivating to perform well. Also try encouraging a friend or a partner to come with you. Exercising with a friend has the added advantage of providing mutual support.

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